William Clarence Ahlstrand

William “Bill” Ahlstrand, 92, of Embarrass, Minnesota, passed away on August 13, 2023, in Brainerd, Minnesota.

Funeral services will be held at 1 PM with visitation one hour prior to services on Friday, September 1^st, at Heritage Church, 13242 Berrywood Dr, Baxter, MN 56425 with Sam Anderson officiating. 

Bill was born in Ely, Minnesota to Herman and Gertrude Ahlstrand on 5-9-1931.  He went to school in Ely.  He married Lillian Aho on 2-17-1951 in Ely, Minnesota.  He worked as a mining dynamite specialist most of his life at various mines in northeast Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, and Montana. He was a veteran, serving in the Army just after World War 2. 

Bill was a real life “Crocodile Dundee” living off the land, with massive gardens, plenty of venison in the freezer, and suckers that he speared in the spring when they were tasty. He fished for walleyes in the summer, netted whitefish in the fall, and harvested wild rice. He picked buckets and buckets of blueberries, cranberries, mushrooms, and basically anything edible he could find in the woods.  To keep warm in the cold, Embarrass winters, he split at least 5 cords of wood every year until he was 85 and heated their home with that wood.

Bill’s christian faith began in his early years, listening to the “swamp angels” of rural Ely. They were two single sisters that were missionaries to northeast Minnesota. Later, Bill attended a Promise Keepers event and when asked if he trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins, he said yes, and referred back to the swamp angels of Ely, thanking them for sharing their faith with him. His faith in Jesus became more important to him in the last few years of his life.

Bill is preceded in death by his parents, brothers Earl and Herman Jr., spouse Lillian, and son, William Jr. 

Bill is survived by his sisters Betty Mather and Dorothy Maki, children Yvonne Trugman and Maralee Gazelka, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchildren about to be born.